Customer Reviews

Of Spirits and Madness: An American Psychiatrist in Africa

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I bought this book to be polite. When a friend of 10+ years writes a book... you buy it. And the day before his reading... you start the first chapter. What I did not expect was that I would absolutely inhale the text. My brain lit up with pleasure. There are so many good things about this book. Not only is the writing itself excellent, the information that Paul tucks into the narratives of each patient is downright fascinating. He takes up politics, economics, spirituality, culture, context, and mental health. The story of each patient's illness is refracted through Paul's Western training, his good heart, and his growing understanding of the local explanations for why things happen as they do. Along the way he provides a terrific set of curbside lectures about a wide spectrum of mental illnesses. He interweaves factual information about disease states with tender compassion for and curiosity about the people he served. I learned a lot from this book and plan to read it again. Maybe I should be polite more often....

There's never a dull moment in this psychiatrist's travelogue on a mad journey with his patients. During his year as a government psychiatrist in Zimbabwe, Dr. Paul Linde has to adjust to the cultural challenges that have his patients as likely to consult a witch doctor and herbal treatments as modern medicine.
Packaged in a series of literary narratives, the eleven character studies--one per chapter--personify the cultural and medical challenges he faces, from a young man convinced he's suffering to spare his community to the delinquent employee who claims she needs to rest her mind.
Linde approaches his new assignment with an open mind and writes with sensitivity. He invites the reader along in an exploration of the African supernatural and psychological landscape. This is stuff Karen Blixen didn't see in the Kenyan hills; it's more the twisted psyche Conrad explores at the heart of the Congo.
Of Spirits and Madness is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the human condition.

In the spirit of the preeminent novelist/psychiatrist Irvin Yalom, Dr. Paul Linde has written a touching and inspiring book about his experiences as a psychiatrist working in Zimbabwe under very difficult circumstances. Despite the "depressing' subject matter (mental illness, poverty, political strife, AIDS, sexism. etc.), Linde has written a surprisingly uplifting account of the human condition. Using well-crafted prose, the reader learns many interesting things about the state of mental health in this Africa nation with its relatively advanced mental health system. Compared to other "third world" nations, Zimbabwe's treatment of the seriously mentally ill is good, but it is still a far cry from that of most Western nations. Linde is an excellent storyteller, telling the stories of his patients with poignancy, humor and deep compassion. All mental health professionals, both the experienced clinician and the neophyte should read this book. This book would also of interest to those interested in African current events. The reader will find himself deeply concerned for the plight of Dr. Linde's patients.

I have worked in Zimbabwe for two years as a photographer and film maker. Of Spirits and Madness gives western thinking a new vantage point. Remember, there is no reality only perception. One of the best books I have read on Shona culture. The spiritual basis of life forms all other truths in Africa. Great Book, wonderful to read.

Dr. Paul Linde's book "Of Spirits and Madness" is a wonderfully entertaining and insightful look into the culture and psyche of the Zimbabwean people. As an American psychiatrist in this third world African country, he becomes immersed in a cultural quagmire of ancestral spirits, evangelical Christianity and traditional healers all colliding with modern Western medical practices. The results, a train wreck of frequently amusing and sometimes very sad situations: experienes which challenged the author's intellectual and medical skills while raising questions in his own mind about the modern world's pursuit of indivudual gain and blatant consumption. This is a great book which will make all readers laugh, think and reevaluate one's own views of what is truly important. The best book I've read this year!

Linde is a psychiatrist whose wife is a pediatrician. It was her dream to work in Africa that brought him to the experience that is the subject of this memoir. Originally intending to spend his Africa years writing, Linde happened into a job as a staff psychiatrist in a government hospital for the mentally ill. Within the first few pages, I learn that treatment is often governed by budget, rather than by the welfare of the patient (not so unlike its contemporaries in the United States and other first-world societies, where the more effective drug with fewer side effects is often available but not within reach of the poor or those depending on HMOs for their healthcare). Linde's personal life is in the shadows here. His emphasis, and where the light shines, is on a rich African culture, where psychiatrists expect (and sometimes recommend) that their patients consult native healers. Linde is not the sort of psychiatrist with a couch in his office, and he is neither trained for, nor interested in talk therapy. His skill and training are with psychiatric drugs. As one of only ten or twelve psychiatrists in the country, Linde's expertise as an emergency-room psychiatrist fit the bill perfectly for his Zimbabwean post. Time was at a premium, and the competent and well-respected nurses ran the hospital, as well as filled in for absent doctors. Linde took advantage of his single year at the Harare Psychiatric Unit to learn about local African culture and African attitudes towards healing and spirituality. He displays considerable respect for the Africans with whom he worked, as well as those he treated. Linde is a good writer, and a fine writer-in-the-making. His parade of case histories, interspersed with information about drugs, psychiatry, and the practice of the "art of medicine" is never dull. (NB: This is a terrific book. The only reason I don't give it five stars is because it isn't quite in my 100 best books of all time.)